Endangered Species?

D

Dukezern

Inactive
Ya know, when I was a child, I remember me and my buddies showing up at school Monday mornings talking about how many squirrels or rabbits we shot over the weekend. Those were the days.

What has happened to the small game hunters? It seems we are turning into an endangered species. The other day at work I mentioned the fact that I killed two squirrels and was actually asked, "What do you do with them after you kill 'em?". Of course I said, "Eat 'em!!". "Ewww!!!" was the response. You never would have heard that 30 or 40 years ago. Even some of those same buddies I hunted with all those years ago have given up on the small game, and are now exclusively big game hunters.

I squirrel hunt with a little Marlin .22 rifle with a 3x - 9x power scope. Yeah, I hunt big game too, but when that season is over, there is nothing more satisfying and tranquil than grabbing that little rifle, a thurmos of coffee, and walking around the woods for a few hours on a Saturday morning. Is there anyone out there that connects with that anymore, or are small game hunters slowly becoming an endangered species.

Thanks, guys. Keep well and keep safe.
 
Places to hunt tree squirrels around here tend to be at least a few hours away.

So I've never bothered hunting them very much, unless I was in an area that held them (hunting big game, fishing, or whatever).

I used to hunt a lot of rabbits, quail, and such, but haven't done that in a few years, either. Been getting the itch lately though, so I'll be out small game hunting before long.

It's have to be rabbits 'till next fall, but they're fun too.

Daryl
 
I think the Snowshoe Hare is the endangered species in this area. I would love to hunt them but I cannot justify taking one now.
As for squirrels, there are many in town but the pine and poplar forests don't hold them. Plenty of red (pine) squirrels and we do shoot them around the cabins.
 
I still love to hunt/eat squirrels.... not many rabbit round here.... cyotes get all them....ive had several people ask me why i would take the time to fix/eat something so small..:eek:
 
my passion for coyote and pheasant hunting is almost as great as my passion for elk hunting so there are a few small game finatics left
 
I'd love to hunt squirrels and other small game.... I just can't imagine having the time to do it. It's a struggle to get enough time for a few days a deer hunting every year. If I sat in the woods on a Saturday all I would be thinking about would be all the things that I SHOULD be doing instead. It's sad, but it's reality.
 
I enjoy hunting squirrels. I actually went out this past Saturday before my birthday party at my parents' place. Sadly, the weather wasn't that great and we didn't see a single one.
 
Besides waterfowling, I love to hunt small game. More hunters need to kill the coyotes so the rabbits will come back. Went squirrel hunting a few times and havent seen one.
 
goodnes, squirrel is my favorite thing to hunt. I absolutely love it. Now, the meat aint as good as a filet mignon imo, but its way better than a mcdonalds cheeseburger. Cost what, one .22 bullet to kill a squirrel? McDonalds is expensive and nasty compared to that.

Man, i've used a pellet rifle to kill squirrels, a LOT of them. Something to do in the back yard! The squirrels start barkin at the dogs, it makes me hungry. Its a great tasting meat too. No fat. Almost a nutty taste to it. I like it better than chicken wings i tell you that much.
 
I just love taking the 22 and walking real slow around the briar roses along a stream, looking for the shiny eyeball or a twitching ear. Nothing like a fresh rabbit stew! But I digress. In answer to your question, most people think in terms of pounds of solid meat, and have no idea where that meat comes from or that most animals (all the ones I can think of, but who knows) are made of meat. So grab that 22, find 'em, whack 'em, skin 'em, and cook 'em!
 
I think it's the places where we hunt, not the game itself.

As a boy, you could hunt small game within sight of my Dad's house in Menomonee Falls. (Then it was still known in spots as Fussville.) That entire area is now filled with suburban homes.

I did quit hunting stuff like this years ago. My wife is a 'city girl' and the idea of eating 'tree rats' makes her gag.
 
me and my buddies showing up at school Monday mornings talking about how many squirrels or rabbits we shot over the weekend.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of one of my uncle's stories. For him, the boys didn't just talk about what they shot over the weekend or even during the week, they actually hunted around the school during lunch and after school let out! I did a little calculating and I'll guess that would have been around 1943. Of course, this was a little rural school house along the edge of some woods in the middle of nowhere. Any game brought home helped a family take more to market. There were no deer then, so everybody hunted small game. Boy, have things changed from when some country kids could bring a .22 to school.

I can remember, as a kid, driving down some of these roads in the evening and the rabbits were so thick that you couldn't go far before running one over. Now a hawk sits on every pole to pick off anything the coyotes didn't already get. We have some rabbits, but their numbers have gotten lean. I don't even know anyone who keeps beagles anymore. :(

Our squirrel population seems to be good, though - good enough that I can't leave a tree stand up or it gets chewed all to crap. I could stand to eat a few squirrels so I should probably get out there next season. Too late now, it closed here on the 15th. But you’re right, it seems like folks don’t talk about their take of squirrels anymore.
 
tho we dont have squirels here i can relate no one hunts cottontails any more in my area except me and my boss i rember a email i read a while back its about then and now then (1940) kid takes .22 *SHORT* to scool the teacher and class mates have a indepth conversation about the art of hunting rabbits and skinning tatics NOW (2009) the local swat team is called in the child is forced to the ground and beaten in to subbmission the parents are locked up and the child is put into counceling for life. ohh how times have changed the world

i grew up on a farm where u would carry the .22 with you everywhere aswell as a small knife that was the done thing u carry a knife theis days every one automatically thinks foul play

thats my 2 cents

cheers damo
 
Ther isn't anything like hunting rabbits with hounds. I enjoy it as much as deer hunting. There are enough rabbits to hunt, but the predators are out of control. Coyote hunting is a great hobby as well. The more I kill, the less beagles they'll kill in the winter.
 
Very rarely do I like to hunt alone (even though I am a bad shot and know I will take a ribbing for my missing that easy one :D) and finding hunting partners is not as easy as it was years ago.
 
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